Monkey Misses You – Archie – Tough Luck
by Elle Gardner
Summary: Archie and Divana were never meant to be together, never destined to spend their lives entwined with one another, but true love will always transcend. Rated T for vulgarity, not smut. (Shocker I know). I do not own Tough Luck or Archie Comics. This is part of the community "One True Love" /community/Reedus-s-One-True-Love-Challenge/112219/3/0/1/


_A/N – I have wanted to write about Archie for a while now. The movie is great, a con man who meets his match. But I could never figure out just what to write. So when this True Love challenge came up, I knew it was time to give a new dimension to Norman's portrayal of Archie. I hope you enjoy, and if you haven't seen the movie – this is one big fucking spoiler! Stop now, go back… and go see this fantastic film!_

_Also, this is part of a community writing exercise where we wrote about a Reedus character and his "One True Love". If you'd like to read other stories from this series... This is part of the community "One True Love" /community/Reedus-s-One-True-Love-Challenge/112219/3/0/1/ _You will need to change the rating to **"M"**_ on the community page to see all the selections. Some of us are pretty naughty!  
_

**Monkey Misses You**

When I was nine years old I went to a carnival, a lot like this one. Side shows and games, oddities and freaks. But there was this one woman. She had a tiger. She was hardly dressed and she cuddled with that tiger. Pale skin, long blond hair, "Betty and the Beast". I watched her and that tiger. She dragged her body across it fur, rode on its back and held its head to her chest. It was the coolest, dirtiest thing I had ever seen. I think I had been waiting my whole life to find again…

"Follow my voice." Her thick Eastern European accent echoed off the hall of mirrors, hell it echoed in my brain. I wanted to believe that I fell in love with Divana in that fun house that night, but really, I fell for her before that. Before I broke up the fight with her and Ike, before I saw her dance. The truth was, I knew from the moment I saw her kissing that albino snake I was in love with her. Her creamy perfect skin, that long, dark wavy hair and the burgundy number she called a costume. A python whose wispy tongue came out as she kissed it. She was the Veronica to me, Archie. I would love that women forever.

I walked along the mirrors, looking at myself, searching the maze for her. What the hell did that woman wanted with a con man like me, I'd never know. She could have had any man that came through the place, ones with money, looks, muscles. But she was calling out to me. And I was drawn to her voice, hypnotized by the accent and the breathy tone behind it. I don't know who kissed who first, it didn't matter. Kissing and undressing, flesh to flesh as we ravaged each other. The passion ignited as I fumbled my way around her at first till we found our rhythm. Mouth to mouth, hot kisses as I pulled down her bra and found her nipple. She was wrapped around me. We both knew how dangerous it was to be together, she belonged to Ike. Truth, I did too. And he didn't like it when you fucked with his property.

Ike had hired me to kill her. Now, don't get upset, I wasn't actually going to do it, and not just because of my strong moral compass. I loved her too much. This would be our chance to make a run of it, get out of there forever and be together. I hatched a plan, it was a good plan. Fake her death, fake getting rid of the body, get the money, get the girl and live happily ever after. It all would have worked perfectly if it wasn't for that fucking monkey.

"I love you Monkey." I hated that she called me that. It wasn't endearing, she was calling me Ike's monkey. But I loved the way she said it, it sounded so sexy and it made me hard every time she said it. Anyways, the plan was fool proof except for that fucking monkey. All I had to do was turn on the gas, she would breathe through the tube, I would "find her dead" and it would be all done. But that god damned monkey with its two pack a day smoking habit fucked it up. He ran off with the cigarette I had flicked away and took it straight to his perch inside the trailer. Right where Divana was waiting for me to save her. Flowing natural gas, a lit cigarette and that fucking monkey killed her and it was my fault. I had flicked my cigarette and gone and turned on the gas. Then I watched as my Divana went up in flames.

I wanted to go back, to try and save her but I knew it was useless. I ran. As fast as I could for as long as I could. I put distance between and that place. And then I threw up. How the fuck does someone let this happen to the one person they love more anything. I knew I was too stupid to be with someone like her. I didn't deserve her, and she sure as hell didn't deserve me. I stayed far enough away not to get caught, but close enough to know that weeks later Ike had created a marker for her, like a tombstone. A place to go when he wanted to pay his respects. They fought all the time but there was no doubt he loved her. Under a tree on the outskirts of the carnival he put a small stone maker that simply read Divana.

It was four months before I could bring myself to see it, I knew she wasn't there. There hadn't been enough of her left to bury, but the marker was there. And in the middle of the night when the moon lit up the sky I went to see Divana. I wanted to leave flowers or something, but I knew they were still looking for me. I had so much I wanted to tell her. How I had wanted to buy her that blue house she had always wanted, but I couldn't bring myself to even talk to her damn marker.

But now, two years later I find myself here again. A moon filled night, the carnival long gone, and the grass is growing over the stone. But I am here to read Divana the letter I wrote her. The one I rewrote a dozen times.

"Divana,

I still see you, with every breath I take, I can see you. I can taste you, your skin and your kisses. The curve of your smile that I didn't get to see often enough. They sway of your hips that brings me back to your touch. Touches we didn't share enough of, but that will stay with me forever. We never got to know each other as well as we should have, never got to share our dreams or create new ones. But I envision our life together.

I get a job, a respectable job, one that takes care of us both. Our blue house is small, but it's all we need. You find a way to make Ike's money last, to get us set up as we both change our names. I call you Veronica and you take to calling me Reggie after Archie's rival in the comic books. I joke that we have a story book romance. I adore you Divana, everything about you. You are the reason I come home from work every day, the reason I stay honest. And I love that you still dance for me. No snake this time, sometimes with our cat, but you dance for me.

And our past is our past. The life we lived doesn't haunt us. I don't have much, but I save up for a ring and your face lights up with I give it to you. I ask you to marry me and I cry when you say yes. You have given me the life I have always wanted and I am humbled to try and do the same for you. If things had gone as I had wanted Divana that is how we would be right now. But life never works out the way you want it to. So tonight all I have for you is this ring I stole, I'll burry it by this stone. I know you are not here, but this is where I feel closest to you. This is where I will always come back to you. This is our blue house that we share together.

All my love,

Monkey"


End file.
